SHARK

We left our picture perfect anchorage and headed out for Nargana (the island that our friend Martha and her two kids Tara and Kayvon are flying into). On our journey to Nargana we passed many islands that look just like the screen savers and desktop photos that we have on our computers.....spiffs of white sand with three palm trees or perfect oval islands with stretches of white beach and surrounded by swimming pool clear water. Finally we start to pass another of these islands and I say....that's it, we are stopping for a swim!!

It wasn't difficult to convince everyone and within about 10 minutes we were anchored in front of another paradise. This time we had the camera charged up and I can't wait to share the photos with you.

The end of the island was a sandbar surrounded by clear water that was about 2 feet deep and white sand bottom and no waves. The water was so warm, it was crazy. Beyond the shallow water was the reef and then it got deep beyond that.

As we were all sitting in the hot clear water, Graham went off to start his snorkel. All of a sudden he was waving frantically for us to join him. The kids threw their kayak at me and away they ran to him. Once I had tied up the kayak and got my gear on they were way out at the reef. I swam and swam to catch up and I am so glad I didn't get there sooner because once I had arrived they all were over the top excited that they had just seen the hugest nurse shark ever. I don't care how many times I hear that nurse sharks are harmless....I still don't want to swim with them.

Graham convinced me that nurse sharks were more afraid of me than I am of them (I find this VERY hard to believe). He was convincing though and away we went to another part of the reef. I tried to hold his hand as we snorkeled along but due to fear I must of been holding it too tightly because even under water I heard him yell at me.

Graham and Amelia swam ahead and just as I was getting comfortable again and enjoying the unbelievable underwater world, I hear the dreaded "SHARK"! Right below Amelia was another very large nurse shark. Graham said that they startled it and it bolted once it saw them. I swam as fast as I could back to shore. A tiny part of me is thinking how cool it would be to see a shark. The kids are looking up all the fish and sharks they saw in their new guide book on the underwater world. I think we should start checking off everything they see.

We made it to Nargana which was suppose to be the promise land with internet, laundry and grocery stores....LOL.....NOT. Basically huts and dirt streets and a few dusty tins for sale in the someone's hut. We entered this one hut and the owner spoke a little English and was so happy to see that his hut had made it into our guide book. On one side of his hut was the shelves with a few items and on the other side of the dark hut was a hammock and a small TV with rabbit ears tuned into America's Cops! So weird.

Today we took the dinghy up the Rio Diablo river with a huge duffel bag full of our laundry. It was truly the coolest adventure ever. Felt like we were IN the jungle. We were told that you do see the occasional alligator on the shore but that they were harmless and more afraid of you then you were of them..hmmm...where have I heard that before! Luckily we didn't see any alligators. We did find a beautiful spot on the river with a nice stream coming into it. Perfect to do our washing in and also for a wonderful fresh water bath! We all had a great time and we hardly realized how much work it was.

Our boat now looks truly like a trailer. Laundry is strung from one end to the other. Tomorrow morning Martha, Kayvon and Tara arrive and WE ARE SO EXCITED! We are taking the week off and going to have FUN FUN FUN!!! No school, boat work or laundry for us!